Letters of horning

Letters of horning (Scots law): a document (i.e., letters) issued by civil authorities that publicly denounce a person as an outlaw. The document was issued against persons who had not paid their debts.

Historically, the documents would be announced by three blasts of a horn, and the documents themselves came to be known as "letters of horning". A person who was denounced in these documents was described as having been "put to the horn".